Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim Cecchin.
Jim, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Elenco began in 1972 by my father, Gil Cecchin. This company was his dream. Dad was the oldest child of a poor, Italian immigrant family that came to Chicago just before the Depression. When he was 17, his father died and he had to support his family instead of going to college. He took a job at Motorola and worked his way up to become one of the head engineers who made color-TV available and affordable for consumer TVs.
Dad started Elenco in 1972 in our basement in Niles, Illinois, with one product: a convergence generator for TV repairmen. I helped my mom and dad fill orders and my younger brother and sister, Jerry and Linda, helped when they were old enough. For several years, our family spent weekends and spare time building the business. We eventually opened an office in Northbrook, and moved to our current location in Wheeling in 1987. As times changed, we expanded our business to include educational kits which taught electronics to high schools, community colleges, technical schools, and directly to consumers.
In 1986, I joined Elenco full-time in Sales. My brother, Jerry, came aboard in 1997, after working with Motorola as an electrical engineer. After growing in the electronics test equipment and education areas, we noticed kids were being taught electronics at a younger age, and that’s when we moved into toys. We introduced the first Snap Circuits® product, the SC-300, in early 2000. Over the years, we’ve expanded the Snap Circuits® product line with themed sets and more curriculum-based sets, and our products are now used all over the world in schools and at home. We’ve also worked hard to become the North American partner for several world-renowned educational toy brands including Engino, Edu-Toys, Tree of Knowledge, OWI, Timberkits, and others.
My Dad passed away in 2002. I took over running the business end of the Company, and I’m the President. Jerry is our Chief Engineer and heads product development for Snap Circuits®. My sister, Linda, handles marketing and legal, and my wife, Patrice, makes sure all the employees have a great place to work. We all have the best job — making toys!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the huge obstacles we’ve had lately is the challenge that comes with being a small company and growing too fast for us to handle. Elenco’s flagship product line, the Snap Circuits, rose in popularity especially with the surge in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Internally, this meant a lot of our employees wore many hats and had to take on responsibilities outside their comfort zone. Luckily, we rose to the challenge and with a lot of hard work together, we were able to get through the growing pains and gained experience to help us for the future.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Elenco Electronics – what should we know?
Elenco is an educational toy, hobby, and electronic test equipment company. We have been family owned and operated since 1972. Our Elenco family includes over 40 full-time employees and 60,000 square feet of warehouse and offices. Many of our employees have been here since the mid-1980s. Our pride and joy is the award-winning Snap Circuits® product line, which teaches kids to have fun learning about electronics. Snap Circuits® have been endorsed by educators worldwide and used in schools, libraries, museums, after-school programs, STEM programs, and at home. Many of today’s rising engineers and scientists learned the basics of technology by playing and creating with Snap Circuits®. What’s really cool is that Elenco made national news last month when the First Lady attended a STEM program where the students were using Snap Circuits® in the classroom! Seeing our product on national news like that really made it feel like we’re doing something positive and important.
What’s your favorite memory from childhood?
The childhood memory that comes to mind when I think of Elenco is my father working at his basement workbench while the rest of us kids cut wire or packaged parts into small plastic bags for customers. We had a production line set going in our basement. Dad had an oscilloscope on one side of his workbench and other test equipment surrounding him. He often had a soldering iron in his hand and he whistled while he tinkered on new products or tried to make current products better.
Contact Info:
- Address: 150 Carpenter Avenue, Wheeling, IL 60090
- Website: www.elenco.com
- Phone: 847-541-3800
- Email: info@elenco.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SnapCircuits/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SnapCircuits
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/c/snapcircuits
Image Credit:
All images are property of Elenco Electronics
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